Top 10 funny lies told to me by family members...

After talking to a friend about my family, I came to the realization that I was told a lot of nonstandard childhood lies.  Although these lies bring amusement to my friends and I now, they were really used to get me to behave as a child.  As a naturally curious person I wanted to know the "why"  and "what will happen" of everything.  I'm sure I was an annoying child, so the following lies were born out of necessity...

• ·      Eating while standing up your feet will get bigger. (I still feel wrong standing and eating.)
• ·      Eating a watermelon seed or apple seed will result in that plant growing in your stomach.  (Freaked out as a 9 year old and thought I was going to have a watermelon patch in my stomach.)
• ·      Swallowed gum will stay in your stomach for 7 years. 
• ·      If you don’t wear a bra your boobs will be down to your knees. (Resulted in 24-hour bra wearing for several years.)
• ·      “Holding it” for too long will make your bladder burst.  (This one was ineffective on me since I’ve always thought that going to the bathroom is a waste of valuable time. Pun intended)
• ·      Reading in dim light you will damage your eyes. (Still do it all the time, if I can see the words I can read. I do have glasses, but not from this)
• ·      Eating cheese will make you constipated. (Being lactose-intolerant, I’ve never had this experience but feared it)
• ·      Swiss cheese is made from using acid to burn off the mold, that’s where the holes come from.   (This is just ridiculous, and I believed it until college.)
• ·      Sitting too close to the TV will give you radiation poisoning and damage our eyes.  (It doesn’t unless you have one specific model of TVs from GE from the 60s.)
• ·      Eating bananas before bed will give you nightmares.  (To this day if I call my mom and tell her I had a nightmare she always asks if I’ve been eating bananas after dinner.)

I'd like to say that I won't tell lies to my future children to get them to behave, but I have a feeling these types of things are used for a reason.  What I've learned from my brief stint working in a daycare and all the years of babysitting is that toddlers are not easily convinced of anything.  

New traditions...

It's Christmas morning and I'm sitting with a nice hot cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll thinking about how Christmas for me has changed in the last few years.  This year I've gained a husband and we've been creating new traditions that we can share with our family. Christmas 2011 is our first "married" Christmas and it has already been different than others.

Like most changes in life, creating new traditions is bittersweet.  My initial image of Christmas will always be the childhood Christmas's where I woke up way too early and waited patiently (or impatiently depending of what I thought Santa was bringing me) for everyone else to get up so we could tear into our presents.  Christmas afternoon was always spent at my grandparents home with our extended family.  Recently, we've spent Christmas at my Mom and step-dad's home about 3 hours away from here.  Last year and this year they have been traveling so we spend Christmas our home.

Our decorations are up, presents are wrapped, and the stockings are stuffed.  Our tree may be small but it still illuminates the room in wonderful white lights.  To make the tree special we bought an ornament to mark our first christmas together and plan to do this every year.  I think it will be wonderful when we are older to share the story of each ornament with our children as we trim the tree.  Of course, I also have the nutcracker sitting out that my grandmother gave me from her collection before she passed away.

We're making a ham and loads of veggies, and for dessert we have a french pear tart.  A big meal on Christmas is one tradition I can not change.  Another addition to our tradition, is giving presents to our pets.  Our dog has been trying to sniff his presents this year, but they are placed just high enough he can  not reach them.  He's getting a real bone, which is pretty much doggie heaven to him and a few other yummy treats!  (shhhh....don't tell him)

I hope all of you have a wonderful Holiday and celebrate being with the ones you love.  Rejoice in new and old traditions.

Weekend adventures across the midwest....

Since I did my long run on Friday, I started the weekend with a pure barre class.  This class totally kicked my butt (literally).  It was challenging in a whole different fashion than running.  Needless to say, it was fun and I plan on taking a few more classes, especially since the studio is SO close.

fall foliage

After a great workout we headed to Delphi, IN for a chili cook-off!  During our drive we were able to admire the amazing colors of the fall foliage.  19 Chilis ranging from sweet to spicy entered the competition and 4 won prizes.  We also got to munch on hot dogs for the chili, fried biscuits with apple butter, and pie.  Tasty homecooked fattiness!  It was a great indulgence with the family.  

It's always nice to go home a

Up close view of lucky trying to eat my phone

nd see the family.  There are TONS of changes going on in our family right now.  Literally every one of my siblings is either expecting a baby or just had a baby.  Pretty soon our holiday get togethers will be filled with the sounds of child laughter.   

Fall is a season of transition, and it looks like our family is in a season of transition as well.  Oh, and Philip was once again picked on by my parent's cat, Lucky (which I like to call devil-cat since he attacks the feet of everyone!)